Well, we successfully navigated the pedestrian border crossing from Aqaba to Eilat. I always find walking across a border oddly unnerving. It seems more personal than just flying into an airport. And when you are in that 100 meters or so of 'no man's land', what if Michael has a heart attack? Who will come to our aid? What embassy would we call?
Once we were across, however, the security and Immigration process was really, surprisingly easy. They had to remove some jewelry and such from the bags to run them through the XRay again, and the Immigration officer was hardly all smiles especially when we asked for the form you can have stamped instead of stamping our passports. You see, other Arab countries won't let you in if they see that you've been to Israel; and while we have no immediate plans to visit Syria, you just never know.
Now the security here at the domestic airport was very intense - more what we expected and perhaps because we came from Jordan. All the bags had to be hand checked and swabbed for explosive residue. And there were billions of questions? Not just the usual d
Did you pack your own bags? Have they been with you the whole time? But Why did you go to Jordan? Why did you visit the places you visited? When did you decide to go? Do you know anyone there? Did you meet anyone there? Did you buy anything? Did you choose the items yourself? Why are you coming to Israel? When did you decide to come to Israel? And on and on and on.
But 1/2 hour later we were through and are now waiting to board our short flight to Tel Aviv. The hardest parts should be behind us now at least until we try to go to Palestinian controlled Bethlehem.
More later.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi, Guys,
ReplyDeleteIt's great to be able to follow along with you. Sounds as though you are having a great time and that Jordan has a great deal to offer the intrepid traveler. Wish we were there with you. Good luck with your tour group and keep up the humor in your reporting.